1
00:00:17,573 --> 00:00:22,875
In 1879, amateur archaeologist
Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola

2
00:00:22,875 --> 00:00:27,973
and his young daughter Maria
explored a dark cave in Northern Spain.

3
00:00:27,973 --> 00:00:32,527
When Maria wondered off by herself,
she made an amazing discovery.

4
00:00:32,527 --> 00:00:36,098
They were standing inside 
a site of ancient art,

5
00:00:36,098 --> 00:00:40,301
the walls and roofs decorated with
prehistoric paintings and engravings,

6
00:00:40,301 --> 00:00:46,069
ranging from 19,000 to 35,000 years old.

7
00:00:46,069 --> 00:00:51,116
Similar marks of our ancestors have been
preserved in caves all over the world.

8
00:00:51,116 --> 00:00:55,230
The oldest we've found were made up to
40,000 years ago.

9
00:00:55,230 --> 00:00:59,495
What do these images tell us
about the ancient human mind

10
00:00:59,495 --> 00:01:02,421
and the lives of their creators?

11
00:01:02,421 --> 00:01:09,123
These early artists mixed minerals, clay,
charcoal, and ochre with spit or animal fat

12
00:01:09,123 --> 00:01:11,665
to create paint.

13
00:01:11,665 --> 00:01:18,433
They drew with their hands and tools,
like pads of moss, twigs, bones, and hair.

14
00:01:18,433 --> 00:01:22,484
In many instances, their images follow
the contours of the cave

15
00:01:22,484 --> 00:01:25,190
to create depth and shade.

16
00:01:25,190 --> 00:01:27,958
The most common depictions
are of geometric shapes,

17
00:01:27,958 --> 00:01:35,007
followed by large mammals, like bison,
horses, mammoths, deer, and boars.

18
00:01:35,007 --> 00:01:40,058
Human figures appear rarely,
as well as occasional hand prints.

19
00:01:40,058 --> 00:01:44,065
Some have theorized that these artworks
are the creation of hunters,

20
00:01:44,065 --> 00:01:47,540
or of holy men in trance-like states.

21
00:01:47,540 --> 00:01:52,588
And we've found examples created by
men, women, and even children.

22
00:01:52,588 --> 00:01:54,629
And why did they create this art?

23
00:01:54,629 --> 00:01:57,928
Perhaps they were documenting 
what they knew about the natural world,

24
00:01:57,928 --> 00:01:59,702
like modern scientists,

25
00:01:59,702 --> 00:02:02,806
or marking their tribal territory.

26
00:02:02,806 --> 00:02:06,193
Maybe the images were the culmination
of sacred hunting rituals

27
00:02:06,193 --> 00:02:08,848
or spiritual journeys.

28
00:02:08,848 --> 00:02:15,078
Or could they be art for art's sake,
the sheer joy and fulfillment of creation?

29
00:02:15,078 --> 00:02:17,628
As with many unsolved mysteries
of the ancient world,

30
00:02:17,628 --> 00:02:19,925
we may never know for sure,

31
00:02:19,925 --> 00:02:23,155
barring the invention 
of a time machine, that is.

32
00:02:23,159 --> 00:02:25,412
But while the answers remain elusive,

33
00:02:25,412 --> 00:02:29,969
these images are our earliest proof
of human communication,

34
00:02:29,969 --> 00:02:32,805
testifying to the human capacity 
for creativity

35
00:02:32,805 --> 00:02:36,144
thousands of years before writing.

36
00:02:36,144 --> 00:02:41,548
They are a distinct visual language 
that imagines the world outside the self,

37
00:02:41,548 --> 00:02:43,248
just like modern art forms,

38
00:02:43,248 --> 00:02:47,487
from graffiti and painting
to animated virtual-reality caves.